Analyzing Presence in Virtual Teamwork through Adult EFL Learners' Narratives: A Multiple-Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54855/Keywords:
Virtual Teamwork, Adult Learners, Online English LearningAbstract
The 21st century has witnessed the rapid development of online learning. In English language education, online learning offers adult learners flexibility in learning English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ ESL), enhancing their professional development. To maximize effectiveness of online learning and minimize the isolation by distance, team-based tasks are designed as a pedagogical approach to facilitate language learners. Hence, this study aims to examine EFL adult learners’ experiences through virtual teamwork - by analyzing three elements of Garrison et al. (2010): social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Based on the Input-Process-Outcome model of teamwork, the research explores how virtual teamwork has shaped the perceptions and experiences of EFL adult students at a Vietnamese Higher Education Institution. A qualitative multiple-case study is adopted to deeply understand nine student cases with considerable differences in age, educational background, learning styles, and participation frequency. The findings are presented in the form of narrative vignettes to reflect different lived experiences of the learners within virtual EFL teamwork. Their stories highlight the needs for appropriately established social presence, and the lack of timely teaching presence. As a result, cognitive presence has not been highly appreciated, as collaborative learning outcomes have been considered unachieved.
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